Lucky Horseshoe Charms
by Streamy23
Summary: Beca Mitchell is at the turning point in her life. College is nearing, and time is moving too fast for her liking. This summer was supposed to be their summer. One whole summer for Beca and her friends to ride and compete on their beloved horses and beat their rivals, Saffron Hill. Then Chloe Beale, the talented showjumper joins their team, and everything changes - for good or bad?
1. Chapter 1

Lucky Horseshoe Charm

"Oh my god" Beca Mitchell groaned as she picked up the magazine. She flipped through the bright pages irritably. Her best friend, Stacie Conrad glanced over.

"What?" She asked lazily, squinting up from her phone screen. The two were lying on the grass outside the barn in the hot summer sun, positively sweltering in their polo shirts and jods.

"Look" Beca chucked her the magazine, leaning back on her elbows and gazing out across the large fields and sand arenas dotted with the occasional horse and rider.

"Saffron Hill Riding Academy wins Local Riding School Cup?" Stacie read out, disgust lathering her voice. Beca nodded, furrowing her brow.

"That's like the fifth time in a row! And they're not even that good!" Stacie protested vainly. Beca rolled her eyes.

"No shit, Sherlock." she deadpanned, closing her eyes with a sigh.

"Barden could have won. They're just a bit….fancier" Stacie dropped the magazine on the grass, rolling on her side to face Beca. Barden Riding School was the stables Beca and Stacie had been riding at for as long as they could remember. It had few teachers, but large grounds and a great cross-country track. The only problem was their rivals, Saffron Hill. They were a prestigious riding school, insisting on the best tack, gleaming stables and top-of-the-range instructors. And compared, Barden seemed a little…simple.

"Yeah, a bit fancier" Beca said dryly, eyeing the fence that separated the stables. On the other side was an arena where a large white horse was jumping a complicated course effortlessly.

"You know what I mean" Stacie chucked the magazine at her, missing by a mile and hitting the fence of the field in front of them, and causing a unsuspecting pony to gallop away.

"We've never got past regionals." Beca reminded her, sitting up.

"Maybe this year will be different" Stacie tried in a vague attempt at optimism. The short brunette quirked an eyebrow at her disbelievingly, getting up from the grass. Stacie sighed, following her.

They headed inside the barn, away from the intense heat.

"Your bro and Aubrey coming back from Uni this afternoon?" Stacie asked breezily, tying her long brown hair back into a ponytail. Beca nodded, faking a grimace.

"Apparently some new girl is arriving as well" Stacie mused, stopping outside her horse, Hunter's stable. The large piebald gelding nickered as she slid open the stable door and went in. Beca leant over the stable door.

"Boarder?" She asked flicking a piece of idle straw at her friend.

"Yeah" Stacie wrinkled her nose. She patted Hunter's neck and her hand came away covered in dust.

"He's literally a dust magnet!" She exclaimed. Beca chucked her a body brush from the box outside the door.

"Your fault for not brushing him enough" she said.

"You hardly ever brush Duke!" Stacie protested, catching the brush. Beca shrugged.

"He's a bay. It doesn't show up" she pointed out. Their conversation was broken by the arrival of a short blonde woman, her features creased into a frown. Freya Davy had owned Barden Riding School for twenty years, raising it up from a shed and a barn to a tightly-run stable yard. Well, she liked to think it was tightly run. She had a steely, no-nonsense attitude that tended to scare her pupils into submission. Not counting her untimely habit of switching from army officer to aunty in a blink of an eye. Nevertheless, Beca and Stacie looked upon Freya as a weird sort of mother figure. Today, her icy temper was in full swing, despite the heat.

"Girls, do you think the stalls will muck out themselves? Jesse and Aubrey arrive in less than an hour." She snapped.

"Right on it, Cap'n" Beca did a mock salute, pushing herself upright. Freya raised an eyebrow at her, then turned her gaze expectantly on Stacie. The leggy brunette hastily exited the stable.

"On it" she echoed. Freya nodded, satisfied, turning on her heel and stalked towards her office. Stacie puffed out a sigh.

"She does not let it go" she remarked. Beca went over to the tool area and grabbed a pitchfork, putting it in a wheelbarrow.

"Mhmm" she answered, frowning as she tried to lift the wheelbarrow.

"Here, I'll do it dwarfy" Stacie took it from her, pushing it easily down the stable aisle. Beca huffed at her.

" _Please_ lay off the short jokes"

The entrance to the barn looked very similar to a backyard. The wooden building was behind a dusty carpark, where a beaten down trailer and truck were parked. Several trees were beyond that, almost blocking it from the road. It concluded to a very quiet and calm area, albeit the occasional fancy sports car and huge trailer that zoomed past on their way to Saffron Hill. Beca and Stacie stood outside, squinting in the sun. Beca kicked the dried mud ground with her boot.  
"Impatient, much?" Stacie teased. Beca shot her a glare.  
"It's like over 100 degrees, and I'm bored" she groaned.

"You're fine" Stacie gestured as a small mint green car pulled into the drive, a shiny black trailer behind it.

"Woah. That's Jesse's trailer?" Beca's jaw fell open. Stacie laughed.

"Hang on there B, you're forgetting his million dollar girlfriend" she said. Beca rolled her eyes.

"Right, course" she muttered. The door of the car opened, and out stepped a tall young man with short brown hair and a goofy grin.

"Hiya Freya, Stacie, short person" he nodded to each of them jokingly.

"Very funny" Beca said dryly, but walked forward to wrap her older brother in a hug. She hadn't seen him for a while since he went off to college with his army captain of a girlfriend. Speaking of which, a pretty blonde woman made her way out of the car towards them, lips pulled into a tight smile.

"Hello Freya, Stacie and Beca" she said the little brunette's name with a hint of disgust. Beca grinned.

"Aubrey Posen! Always a delight to see you!" she spoke in a overly happy tone.?" The blonde girl rolled her eyes.

"Pleasure" she replied curtly.

"Right-ho! You'd better get your nags into the stalls" Freya broke the tension. Jesse nodded, ruffling his sister's hair before going to lower the ramp of the shiny trailer.

Two horses were promptly led out - one a bright palomino named Bee - Aubrey's horse, and Carson, Jesse's skittish dark bay. She passed the lead ropes to them.

"You know where they go by now – the girls prepared the stalls" she dusted her hands on her breeches as Jesse and Aubrey disappeared into the barn. Beca crossed her arms.

"When did you say that new girl was coming?" She checked. Freya had a grim look on her face as she stared straight ahead.  
"Right now" she announced. Beca turned to see a huge horse transporter parade into the tiny car park, large, obnoxious words on the side reading: 'BEALE.'

"You've got to be kidding me."


	2. Chapter 2

You've got to be kidding me" Beca deadpanned, turning to her instructor for an explanation.

"I don't see your point" Freya replied coolly.

"Why the hell is someone like that coming here instead of…the other place" Beca caught herself quickly. Freya turned and leveled her gaze with the short brunette.

"If there's a new boarder, that means more money. Do you have a problem with that?" The woman stated, staring down the girl. Beca scuffed her feet on the ground, crossing her arms.

"No" she muttered.

"That's what I thought – now be nice" she hissed as a tall man with a broad smile made his way towards them from the truck.

"Hello, Daniel Beale" he shook hands with Freya heartily.

"I'm Freya Davy– I own the stables and instruct. These are two other boarders at the yard, Beca and Stacie" Freya introduced them.

"Nice to meet you all. Chloe's just getting Swan from the trailer." Mr Beale grinned at the two teenagers. Stacie shook his hand, but Beca stood still, a guarded look in her eyes. All of their attention was drawn to the trailer as a girl with red hair led a beautiful dapple-grey mare off the ramp.

"Wow." Stacie commented.

"That's some horse" Freya remarked. Daniel laughed.

"Swan's quite a stunner," he agreed. The girl brought the horse over, a smile adorning her face quite similar to her father's.

"Hi, I'm Chloe and this is Swansong" she greeted. Beca was struck for a second as the girl's eyes flitted to her for a moment. They were quite possibly the bluest eyes Beca had ever seen, contrasting sharply with her ginger curls, but in a good way.

"Mr. Beale if you could come inside to the office with me – Beca and Stacie will show Chloe where everything is, if that's okay" Freya said. Beca shot a small glare at her instructor as she turned to leave with Daniel, which was returned with a smirk.

"Hi there, Chloe! I'm Stacie!" The long-legged brunette jumped into the greeting enthusiastically. As per usual.

"Keep it in your pants, Stace" Beca muttered, rolling her eyes. Stacie shoved her lightly.

"This pint-sized bundle of joy here is Beca Mitchell." Her friend stated. Beca glared at Stacie before throughing a half-hearted smirk at Chloe, which was returned with a beam so bright Beca was wondering how she wasn't blinded yet.

"Sooo, let's go put your gorgeous horse away first, and then we'll give you the tour!" Stacie interrupted Beca's reverie.

They led the way into the large barn, where Jesse and Aubrey were sitting on a hay bale outside Carson's stable. The couple turned their heads when the trio and Swan walked in.

"Well hello! A new girl on the first day back, things are looking good" Jesse smirked, getting up.  
"Chloe, meet my oh-so-funny brother, Jesse, and his girlfriend, General Posen" Beca drawled.

"Jesse, Posen, this is Chloe and Swansong" she said.  
"Nice to meet you Chloe" Jesse nodded. Aubrey stood up abruptly.  
"It's Aubrey, actually, ignore the midget" she said sharply. Chloe glanced back and forth between them, unsure of what to say.  
"Don't worry about those two. They cat fight all the time" Stacie assured her. Beca huffed, unlocking one of the stable doors.

"Right, you're right next to Duke" she said, holding the door open for Chloe to lead her mare in.

"He your horse?" Chloe asked, glancing over from undoing Swansong's halter.

"Yep, DJ-Duke's mine" Beca gave the dark bay gelding next door a slappy pat on the neck.

"He's very handsome" Chloe grinned as she shut the stable door, and Beca found herself mesmerised for a second in her smile.

"All done, Chloe? Okay, let's get this tour going" Stacie announced.

Barden Riding School certainly did not pride itself on the exterior of it's buildings. The whole stable block and barn area mainly consisted of a few brown wooden blocks, and beyond the fields and woods. This being, Stacie, Chloe and Beca didn't have to walk far to get a view of the whole place. They sat on the fence of the old pony field, only currently inhabited by a grumpy black shetland named Mouse.

"Over there, is the bedding shed. No-one goes in there though, it's full of spiders. We usually draw straws on who has to when we run out of bedding around the yard." Stacie explained.

"I'll keep that in mind" Chloe nodded, smiling. She had only been here for a few hours and was already loving the sarcastic, easy banter of Beca and Stacie, and the unshifted quiet aroma that surrounded the whole yard.

"This year we're planning to extend the cross-country course. It's gonna have a huge log jump into the lake" Stacie informed her excitably.

"Well, unless we're too busy doing the Riding School Cup" She added.

"What's that?" Chloe asked, intruiged. Beca shook her head.

"We don't have enough for a team, and Saffron Hill will win anyways" She told Stacie with a sigh.

"Who cares? Chloe will join us, won't you?" Stacie was defiant in her comeback.

"Uh-" Chloe began.

"Saffron Hill won't _definitely_ win, and we've got Jesse and Bree who can kickass when they want to-" Stacie rambled.

"Stace, quit kidding yourself. We don't stand a chance against Bumper and his five-star horse from Germany" Beca scoffed.

"Ehrm, guys?" Chloe spoke up. The two brunettes' heads snapped towards her.

"Yeah?" Beca said, her grey eyes, previously hard, softening a little. Chloe smiled.

"What is the Riding School Cup?" She asked tentatively. Stacie sighed, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of her jodphur pocket and passing it over. Chloe glanced at Beca, then began to read the paper:

 _Do you have your team ready for the Riding School Cup?_

 _If your stables thinks they have what it takes, they should not hesitate in entering this amazing competition. This year we have the dressage star Garth Allen hosting, with first prize including a personal five-day clinic for your team!_

 _The RSC requires a team of six members able to compete at intermediate level for at least one discipline. Your stable owner will have to give their consent as well. Please go to to get on board!_

 _This competition prides itself on it's individuality. It is ultimately, a showjumping competition, but as your team progresses through the stages to the finals, there might just be some little differences that pop up to test you to the best of your abilities!_

 _Well what are you waiting for? Form your team, saddle up and get competing!_

"Wow" Chloe voiced after she had finished reading it.

"So, Chloe, you in?" Stacie questioned eagerly.

"Sure!" Chloe grinned. She high-fived Stacie as Beca groaned dramatically.

"Well done red, now she'll be hyperactive for days" she said to Chloe as Stacie leapt off the fence, no doubt to perform a victory dance. Chloe just smiled, noting the nickname.

"You're welcome, Beca" she replied.

 **So..hi! This is my first published fanfiction. I write quite a lot of little bits and bobs actually, just only when this little idea came along did I throw caution to the wind and decided to publish it.**

 **My name is Streamy, and I ride weekly, and this fanfic idea popped up during one of my lessons, and I haven't really though about anything else since! (Amen, homework)**

 **I'll try and update as often as I can. I would love it if people could review and etc, do all the things, hate, love, trash. I don't know.**

 **And..that is the end of my painstakingly awkward author's note.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Streamy x**


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